SpLD Assessment Standards Committee

Mathematical difficulties are recognised to be one of the largest barriers to learning and career success. It has been noted that 22% of 16 to 19-year olds in England are functionally innumerate. This figure seems be confirmed around the world as an accurate figure for the numbers of people who will have severe difficulties with mathematics. It has also been estimated that 30 to 70% of people with a specific learning difficulty will have a higher-than-chance overlapping difficulty with mathematics, (Pennington et al 2019).

This session will enable participants to identify the characteristics of dyscalculia and maths difficulties and then offer effective interventions and recommendations that can be incorporated into diagnostic assessments.

The second part of this two-session course will investigate barriers to mathematics learning presented by aspects of the dyslexic profile. We will consider suitable tools for investigating the impact on maths learning during the diagnostic assessment of literacy difficulties before suggesting interventions that are suitable for learners and reasonable adjustments that can be made in school, University, and the workplace. The webinar is designed to support specialist teachers/assessors in their decision making around recommendations in diagnostic assessment reporting.

This session will enable participants to evaluate effectiveness of assessment tools and understand the impact that maths difficulties can cause a learner.